Category: Series

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City of the Future - 3: Adaptive Traffic Lights

Traffic lights were invented to improve pedestrian safety, but they also created streets that put cars first. But what if traffic lights could respond to the actual conditions at the intersection — perhaps stay red for an elderly walker or turn green for a crowded bus? In this episode, we explore an innovation that could change the hierarchy of the street: adaptive traffic lights. 

City of the Future is produced by Benjamen Walker and Andrew Callaway. Our hosts are Vanessa Quirk and Eric Jaffe. Mix by Sharif Youssef. Music is by Adaam James Levine-Areddy (check out his band at amsterdamlost.com). Art is by Tim Kau. Special thanks to all who made this episode possible: Willa Ng, Ryan Vilim, Richard Saylor, Kara Oehler, Claire Mullen, Taylor Wizener, and Sven Kreiss. 

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Undiscovered - Party Lines

In 2016, a North Carolina legislator announced that his party would be redrawing the state’s congressional district map with a particular goal in mind: To elect “10 Republicans and three Democrats.” His reasoning for this? As he explained, he did “not believe it’s possible to draw a map with 11 Republicans and two Democrats.”

It was a blatant admission of gerrymandering in a state already known for creatively-drawn districts. But that might be about to change. A North Carolina mathematician has come up with a way to quantify just how rigged a map is. And now he’s taking his math to court, in a case that could end up redrawing district lines across the country.

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The City - The Takedown | S1 E7

A reporter scoops the FBI. Politicians get taken down in "Mount Henry’s" shadow. The six-story debris pile remains.

There's bonus content for this episode of The City and more at our website: thecitypodcast.com

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Undiscovered - The Long Loneliness

Americans haven’t always loved whales and dolphins. In the 1950s, the average American thought of whales as the floating raw materials for margarine, animal feed, and fertilizer—if they thought about whales at all. But twenty-five years later, things had changed for cetaceans in a big way. Whales had become the poster-animal for a new environmental movement, and cries of “save the whales!” echoed from the halls of government to the whaling grounds of the Pacific. What happened? Annie and Elah meet the unconventional scientists who forever changed our view of whales by making the case that a series of surreal bleats and moans were “song.”

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The City - Operation Silver Shovel | S1 E6

A criminal flips and wears a wire. Aldermen accept small sums of large bills. The FBI’s investigation may be tainted. "Mount Henry" grows, but shrinks from memory.

There's bonus content for this episode of The City and more at our website: thecitypodcast.com

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Corrections and clarifications: A previous version of Episode 6 of The City misidentified the number of silver pieces Judas received for betraying Jesus. It was 30 pieces of silver.

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City of the Future - 2: Modular Pavement

In our second episode, we explore how modular pavement — which would allow us to embed technologies into our streets — could transform our cities. We talk to Tim Allen, co-founder of a start-up working to make pavement warm up and melt snow (Arctic Heat Technologies); Thierry Sedran, the father of "removable urban pavement"; and Chris Sitzenstock and Cara Eckholm of Sidewalk Labs. 

City of the Future is produced by Benjamen Walker and Andrew Callaway. Our hosts are Vanessa Quirk and Eric Jaffe. Mix by Sharif Youssef. Music is by Adaam James Levine-Areddy (check out his band at amsterdamlost.com). For this episode, we also used two songs from the Free Music Archive: "Battle of Pogs" and "Ending" by Komiku. Art is by Tim Kau. Special thanks to all who made this episode possible: Kara Oehler, Claire Mullen, Tim Allen, Thierry Sedran, Chris Sitzenstock, and Cara Eckholm.

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Undiscovered - Turtle v. Snake

Travis Thomas is a rookie turtle researcher in Florida. He was on the verge of publishing his first big paper and naming two new species of turtle when he found out he’d been scooped by a stranger in Australia: Raymond Hoser, a.k.a. the Snake Man. Raymond is a reptile wrangler and amateur herpetologist who’s managed to name hundreds of animals—and has made a lot of enemies in the process. In this episode of Undiscovered, Travis sets out to get his turtles back, and Annie and Elah set out to find out how and why the Snake Man does what he does.

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The City - The “Forrest Gump” of Chicago Crime | S1 E5

A bank failure unearths a connection to the mysterious man in the limo—and suddenly, he’s everywhere. Bribery, fraud and violence are just ways of doing business. The FBI is on the case—but which one? And whose?

There's bonus content for this episode of The City and more at our website: thecitypodcast.com

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